You might call the past year in the PR industry the year of the deal. We've witnessed big firms gobbling up slightly smaller fish and vendors beefing up brands with everything from Webcasting to alliances. Even Monty Hall might be surprised by what's behind Door No. 3.
In fact, recent negotiations have led to some blockbuster deals, especially in the vendor arena where the Net influence is irresistible.
The virtual world allows businesses to buddy up to constituencies in dozens of new ways. Nintendo, for instance, hired New York-based News/Broadcast Network to create a Web cast early in 1999 for its N64 Super Smash Brothers game that drew 35,000 unique visitors. Though NBN won't reveal the price to Nintendo, it says a typical Web cast runs between $10,000 and $20,000.
But NBN is just a single example of vendors that are revving up their brands through proprietary agreements. Last week, Business Wire inked an agreement to provide high-tech news for newsbytes.com. Newsbytes is a division of Post-Newsweek Business Information Inc., a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company. The service reaches more than five million tech writers and industry executives every day.
Ways of the Web
The impact of the Internet for those in communications continues to be huge as more 24-hour news channels crop up and more content deals are unveiled.
So, what's one more vendor deal?
Corporate communicators and association PR execs would be naive to dismiss the trend in vendor growth as irrelevant because PR agencies typically outsource satellite media tours, news release distribution and other services when they take on new clients.
Vendor costs are often built into agency billing estimates so they have a very direct affect on the bottom line. PR firms often decide that vendor-based services help round out a campaign.
NBN, for instance, works with many of the majors, but its client list also includes up-and-coming Chandler Chicco Agency which has Pfizer among its clients.
The Vendor Wars
Bill McCarren is president of wire service U.S. Newswire which built its reputation on limiting its news distribution.
But since its debut in 1986 distributing releases for government agencies and think tanks, the business model for U.S. Newswire hasn't changed. In fact, the company would prefer retaining its longtime client the White House Press Office over newcomers like Slate's Michael Kingsley. "We focus on the news of public policy," McCarren says. "We don't want journalists to have to weed through product news and earnings reports."
McCarren is one of many players of late in a slew of new deals. Within two days this month (June 8 to June 10), major vendors announcing new plans included:
- U.S. Newswire's agreement to provide Newswise (its business model is distributing "knowledge-based" news on the Net) with content for its online database;
- NBN's partnership with three cyber revolutionaries (see sidebar); and
- PR Newswire's acquisition of U.K.-based Two-Ten Communications in a $27.2 million deal. That partnership came just after PRN acquired newsdesk.com, a news retrieval and tracking service for the tech and healthcare markets.
Owned by United News & Media, a U.K.-based conglomerate, PR Newswire delivers information to the media, financial markets and consumers for more than 33,000 companies and organizations worldwide. Its broadbased branding techniques are as varied as local networking coffees and international audio cybercasts.
While most alliance arrangements generally don't see money changing hands, partnerships have become key tools in extending brands today. By providing access to content or a service, partners sidestep hefty development costs.
"There was no reason for us to try and create [what Newswise offers] and mimic [it] when they're doing so well and we can find a way to strike a win-win," says McCarren.
The alliance differs from one of the company's earliest deals with Lexis-Nexis that's based on royalties (news outlets are paid according to user consumption). In its new deal, Newswise will distribute U.S. Newswire releases on its network in exchange for U.S. Newswire disseminating Newswise-delivered content. An even trade.
(Business Wire, 212/752-9600; NBN, 800/840-6397; PR Newswire, 212/282-1929; U.S. Newswire, 202/347-2770)
NBN Negotiations Land New Partners
News Broadcast Network is flexing its online muscle through some fresh deals, which include:
- using mediaondemand.com's Synchronized Multimedia Integrated Language (SML) presentations for NBN's audio and video streaming and Webcasting projects;
- selecting FasTV.com to allow keyword searches of NBN projects. Searchable video permits Internet users to control the viewing process; and
- partnering with ScreamingMedia.net, which collects, filters and streams realtime news to corporate Web site and intranets.